Details
Tadorna tadorna
The common shelduck is a large duck with a white body and chestnut band. Across the Palearctic and into the Indomalayan region, it is closely tied to coasts and saline wetlands.
Map: Ecoregions 2017 © RESOLVE (CC BY 4.0) · Natural Earth (PD)
It uses mudflats, estuaries, saltmarshes, shallow lakes, and sandy coasts. Nest sites are hidden in rabbit burrows, banks, rock crevices, or similar cavities.
Length is 58-67 cm and weight 850-1450 g. A white body, dark green head, chestnut breast band, and red bill are distinctive; breeding males have a larger bill knob.
Diurnal pairs hold territories during breeding. Outside the breeding season and during molt, birds may gather in large flocks.
An omnivore, it eats mollusks, crustaceans, worms, aquatic insects, algae, and seeds. It sweeps the bill through mud or shallow water to filter food.
Nests are placed in burrows or hidden cavities, and the female incubates. Precocial ducklings follow the adults to water soon after hatching.
It is listed as Least Concern. Mudflats and saltmarshes are important, as are landforms and animal burrows that provide nesting cover.
